The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1887-02-09
THE PROGRESSIVE SOUTH.
Facts Showing II Fine Prospect for the
People of this Section.
(From the Baltimore SUM-

Facts Showing II Fine Prospect for the
People of this Section.
(From the Baltimore SUM-
Long before the movement from the
Northern and Middle States set in, the
Sun repeatedly called attention to the
new field that since the war was opened
Mt the South for industrial emigration
from the States and from abroad. 1t
pointed out its vast underlying wealth
of coal and iron ore, of limestone and
manganese, its great deposits Of kaolin
and of copper and gold, to its variety of
woods for the constructive and dccora-
tive purposes, and its thousands of acres
Of fertile soil. At that time only n few
cotton factories were in operation, some
kaolin deposits worked, and here and
there south OF Virginia, where coal
mining had long been going on, some
feeble attempts made ut mining-princi
pally i'll Tennessee and Alabama-whcrc
II few furnaces had been built for tn,
smelling of iron ore.
1t had been demonstrated even then
that cotton fabrics Of tho palmer kind
could be produced ut considerably less
cost than ut the North, and pig ron Iait
on the bank ready for delivery at ST.
per ton. The great drawback was tn,
want OF adequate facilities for transpor
tation to n market, but not long after
wards some enterprising and clear-sight'
cd men, looking forward to the future
development OF this miHoral wealth, took
up considerable bodies of land rich in
coal and ron ore, and waited until the
time should como to utilize them. The
rapid extension of railroads throughout
the South supplied the opportunity, and
while the Southern people of the cotton
belt were increasing the number of their
factories i'll the vicinity of the plantations
that produced the raw material, Northern
and English capitalists were descending
upon West Virginia, Tennessee and
Alabama, and putting up furnaces, to be
followed by rolling mills, in the midst
of the iron and coal deposits. Slow as
the movement was at first, it has in
creased with such rapidity that great
coke and iron furnaces now line the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Chatta-
nooga and Knoxville have now become
hives of busy industry, and new towns,
destined to rival cities like Pittsburg,
have been founded in Alabama, which
have been chriSteucd Birmingham and
Shetiicld-namcS famous in England for
the excellence Of their manufactures OF
iron and steel. Birmingham is now the
seat of an active iron industry. 1t has
already a number OF large furnaces, and
mills for rolling iron and steel are about
to be erected. 1t contains Mt this time
some 5000 inhabitants. At Sheffield,
also, furnaces have been built, streets
laid out, houses erected, stores opened,
and population is tlocking in. What is
more important still, cheap iron is ut,
tracing other industries. One OF the
great stove works nj Troy, doing the
largest business Of its kind in the United
States, is to be removed, or may already
have been removed, either to Alabama
or Tennessee. Other trades and manu-
features are following, notably Clark's
works, which supplies n large part of the
United States with cotton thread. The
marbles of Tennessee, for which Knox
vile is the principal market, are getting
to be in request, and SO many manufac-
turing enterprises have been established
there that the population has increased
from $4,000 in 1882 to ovcr 30 900.
Chattanooga shows a SIMILAR increase
and with 1t has come a speculation III
building lots on which largo profits have
been rapidly made, but which may be
carried too far unless kept within healthy
limits. Other Southern cities are feeling
the impulse, though III Il lesser degree.
Lands are bringing better prices. The
hardwood forests Of Tennessee and
North Carolina, which less than two
years ago could have been bought ut
from sixty cents to n dollar and n quar-
ter, an acre have been purchased by CAPT
~fallsts, who are getting ready to send the
timber to the Eastern markets. Great
stretches of pine land farther south,
within easy distance Of rail or water car
riagc, have also been brought up All
these facts go to show that the South
has entered upon Il new era of industrial
activity never known before, and that III
the course OF II few years, She is destined
20 become one of the most prosperous
sections OF the Union.